More Money? Vasella May be a Novartis AG (NVS) Consultant 2/22/2013 7:15:07 AM

Fresh from an embarrassment over a widely criticized non-compete deal that was scrapped this week, the Novartis board may now offer a consulting contract to Dan Vasella, Bloomberg News reports. What is not clear is whether Vasella, who had offered to donate the $72 million he was to have received from the non-compete, will do the same with the proceeeds from a consulting gig. The non-compete caused considerable ruckus for the drugmaker, which had not publicly disclosed the six-year agreement with Vasella and has been regularly chastised for the compensation awarded the departing exeutive. The agreement angered shareholders and has figured prominently in an upcoming national referendum in Switzerland, wher Novartis (NVS) is headquartered, that would give citizens a chance to decide whether shareholders should have more say in executive compensation. Had the non-compete deal not been leaked, “no one would have known about the gigantic sums you were talking about,” Dominique Biedermann, executive director of Ethos, a foundation that advises institutional investors on corporate governance issues, said at the Novartis shareholder meeting.